The prospect of driving everything you own across multiple state lines and over countless potholes may feel daunting, but don’t worry. Thousands of people have done it before, so there’s a veritable ocean of information to make your journey less stressful. Here are the best ways to make a cross-country move easier.
Donate Anything You Don’t Need
Before you head out to a hardware store and pick up 700 boxes, take some time to go through your clothing and knickknacks and set aside anything that you don’t need (or want). When you’ve lived in one place for years, you can accumulate tons of bits and bobs that do nothing but take up space. These tchotchkes will have you pulling your hair out when trying to develop a solid packing system.
When you’ve got all the discarded relics of your past collected, send them to a secondhand store so they can bring joy to someone else.
Set Up the Forgettables
Moving trucks, apartment leases, and boxes are the only things you need to secure for your move, right? Actually, many people forget to take care of a bunch of little things before the move.
- Schedule your utilities, so you have water and power when you move in.
- Contact USPS about forwarding your mail. You don’t want to miss any bills!
- Cancel or transfer any local memberships.
- Find new doctors, dentists, and veterinarians in your new city.
Plan Your Stops
Coming up with a plan for your trip can help make long drives feel a little more manageable. If you start each day knowing you have an eight-hour drive with a stop for food “whenever you feel like it,” we’re betting it’ll seem like you have an eight-hour drive ahead of you.
Instead, figure out a spot to eat ahead of time and set your GPS to take you there. That way, even though the full day will see you driving eight hours, each leg of the journey will have a more digestible four-hour ETA on your GPS.
Now that you know these ways to make a cross-country move easier, start prepping and packing, and you’ll be in your new home in no time!
